Stamkos scores twice, Lightning defeat Panthers in Recreation 4 to keep away from sweep – NHL.com

Kucherov, Hedman, Hagel, Level every will get 3 factors for Tampa Bay
R1, Gm4: Panthers @ Lightning Recap
TAMPA — Steven Stamkos scored twice for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who prevented getting swept by the Florida Panthers with a 6-3 win in Recreation 4 of the Japanese Convention First Spherical at Amalie Enviornment on Saturday.
Recreation 5 might be at Florida on Monday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, BSFL, BSSUN).
Brandon Hagel had two targets and an help, and Brayden Level had a purpose and two assists for the Lightning, the primary wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman every had three assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.
“We got here out with fireplace and we received rewarded,” Hedman mentioned. “Particular groups was huge, energy play, short-handed, 4-on-4 … these had been the form of targets we received and that is huge for us. They pushed again within the second, however I assumed we had an incredible third and deserved the win.”
Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for the Panthers, the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Division. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.
“We had been somewhat bit sluggish after which we had somewhat downside with some particular groups stuff tonight,” Florida coach Paul Maurice mentioned. “That is the recipe for a tricky one.”
Stamkos gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with a power-play purpose at 8:54 of the primary interval, on a one-timer from under the left face-off circle off a backhand cross from Level.
“It is a interval at a time for us at this level, for us that is the mentality,” mentioned Stamkos, the Tampa Bay captain. “We had an important begin, that is one thing that we have been fighting these days. Clearly to get a power-play purpose, too, that was a giant motive why we did not have success final recreation … to get that was a confidence increase.”
FLA@TBL R1, Gm4: Level, Stamkos group up for slick opening PPG
Hagel made it 2-0 with a short-handed purpose at 12:09, scoring with a wrist shot from the excessive slot that beat Bobrovsky excessive on the stick aspect.
Level prolonged it to 3-0 at 15:07 when he stuffed in a wraparound on the left put up.
Verhaeghe reduce it to 3-1 at 4:17 of the second interval, chipping in a cross from Matthew Tkachuk from under the proper circle.
“You hand over three targets within the first … they are a actually good group over there and they’re going to rating targets,” Verhaeghe mentioned. “We gave a valiant effort to return again and it wasn’t sufficient.
“It is a best-of-7 sequence, we’re simply going to attempt to win one other recreation, we’ll have one other alternative subsequent recreation and that is all that we’re enthusiastic about.”
Hagel pushed it to 4-1 at 9:40. He took a centering cross from Mikhail Sergachev on the frenzy and beat Bobrovsky with a shot from the excessive slot. Sergachev returned to the lineup after lacking the previous 34 video games with a damaged left leg.
“The physique is an incredible factor as a result of the physique heals … it is that psychological hurdle it’s a must to recover from,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper mentioned. “And sooner or later, he was going to must play a recreation. You’ll be able to inform when a participant is prepared and when a participant isn’t prepared. Yesterday, we knew he was prepared.”
Sergachev had two photographs on purpose, a success and two blocked photographs in 17:03 of ice time.
“I felt nice, the followers had been very loud for me and I admire that,” Sergachev mentioned. “I felt like a hockey participant once more. Actually, I could not actually sleep final evening, it felt like my first NHL recreation once more. And then you definately get that from the followers within the warmup, it made me very emotional. I am simply grateful to be right here.”
Reinhart reduce it to 4-2 at 11:10 when he went to the backhand to chip in a unfastened puck on the high of the crease.
Ekman-Larsson made it 4-3 at 14:33 when he beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot from the left circle.
“They performed very well within the first interval, they scored three targets within the first interval,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov mentioned. “It is powerful to return again from a three-goal lead, however we virtually did. That is good for us, however clearly we do not need that to ever occur once more.”
FLA@TBL R1, Gm4: Ekman-Larsson rips in a wrister, cuts deficit
Stamkos pushed the result in 5-3 at 9:34 with a snap shot from the highest of the left circle.
Nicholas Paul redirected Kucherov’s centering cross previous Bobrovsky throughout 5-on-3 play at 16:22 for the 6-3 ultimate.
Tampa Bay was 2-for-5 on the ability play after going 2-for-12 in the course of the first three video games of the sequence.
“It was a little bit of an odd recreation with the 5-on-4s, 4-on-4s, 5-on-3s and issues like that,” Maurice mentioned. “We’ll must discover a option to keep out of the field.”
NOTES: The Lightning had misplaced six straight playoff video games at dwelling. … Florida had received eight straight playoff video games in opposition to Japanese Convention opponents.
🔹 Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
🔹 Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
🔹 New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals
🔹 Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders
🔹 Dallas Stars vs. Vegas Golden Knights
🔹 Winnipeg Jets vs. Colorado Avalanche
🔹 Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators
🔹 Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

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